Delaware Man Scams Fans by Posing as Food Network Celebrity Chef

A Delaware man named Leonard "Lenny" Ruebeck has been accused of posing as a Food Network celebrity chef and bilking almost 300 people out of $35 each. Victims of the fraud thought they were buying tickets to a star-studded cooking demonstration that would include appearances by Rachel Ray, Bobby Flay, and Paula Deen. The problem? The whole thing was cooked up in Ruebeck's imagination.

New Jersey's Today's Sunbeam reports that Ruebeck, who called himself "Chef Lenny," was taken into police custody last Wednesday but was later released after agreeing to repay the approximately $10,000 in ticket sales he'd solicited.

The advertised event was to take place at the local Carneys Point Fire Station, where Ruebeck had been offering cooking classes, passing himself off as a Food Network chef by sporting a chef's coat with the network's logo and by wearing a medallion, which he said he'd won on "Iron Chef."

It was in his classes that Ruebck's story started to smell fishy, one of the class attendees told reporters. "Something just didn't seem right during the classes when he didn't have any of the basic skills a chef should have," said Theresa Press. "At times, I was teaching the class more then he was."

Press reported Ruebeck to the police. When they questioned Ruebeck, he admitted that he has no affiliation with the Food Network and that he tried similar schemes in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in Delaware.